Olegario Benquerenca did everything he could under the laws, dismissing the Uruguayan and awarding Ghana a last-minute penalty.

It was not Fifa's fault that Gyan squandered a wonderful chance to strike a blow for Ghana, for Africa and for all who believe honesty still has a place in professional sport, even one with such scrambled ethics as football.

When Gyan missed, Suarez's jubilant reaction confirmed the cynical nature of his deed. "The truth is," said the Ajax striker, "it was worth it."

His coach, Oscar Tabarez, defended Suarez, arguing it "was not cheating" because "it was instinctive". The referee thought otherwise. So did everyone watching.

So Fifa must now act in the short-term and long-term. Having confirmed it would "be looking at that incident", Fifa had the power to impose a ban of "at least one match'' if the disciplinary committee deemed Suarez guilty of "unsportsmanlike conduct".

Already ruled out of Tuesday's semi-final against the Netherlands here, Suarez should have been suspended for an additional match, ruling him out of the final or the third-place game. To have him polluting the competition again will further enrage Africans and neutrals.

Fifa made an idiot of itself by not taking any significant sanction against Thierry Henry when the Frenchman handled in helping Les Miserables qualify for the World Cup at the Republic of Ireland's expense.

Fifa's fair play code states: "Winning is without value if victory has been achieved unfairly or dishonestly. Cheating is easy but brings no pleasure." Henry escaped with his deception. Suarez should suffer further for his.

Ghana's distress was captured in the words of John Pantsil. "In the last minute we got a goal but the referee disallowed it," said the Fulham defender.

"Instead of him giving the goal he whistled for a penalty." Laws cannot be changed mid-tournament, and the damage is already done to Ghana, but the International FA Board must examine this. Fifa privately was very dismissive of the idea of introducing a penalty goal, just as rugby union awards a penalty try for serious or repeated offences close to the line when a try was likely to be scored.

Fifa's fear with all possible law changes is that it brings in video evidence by stealth. Goal-line technology, as Sepp Blatter is now prepared to consider following Frank Lampard's misfortune, is now not perceived as a problem as a HawkEye system will not delay the flow of the game, quite rightly a major consideration of Fifa.

There will be no reference to a referee in the stand. Nor would there be with the deliberate handball on the line. After the referee had dismissed Suarez, he would simply apply an additional sanction, that of a penalty goal.

Fifa is unlikely to follow rugby, a pity as there is another rule that football should adopt from the oval-ball game, that of play continuing while the physio attends a fallen player. Let's call it the Drogba Rule. A Suarez Amendment would be good too.